Joe Biden's pitch to voters is increasingly reminding me of a used car salesman desperate to stop a prospective buyer from leaving the lot. 

"Sure, this ride may not sound great. It's slow and runs inconsistently, and it definitely has a few more miles on it than you'd like, but if you buy it we'll throw in Supreme Court reform free of charge. And have I mentioned that we'll expunge the records of anyone convicted of marijuana possession just as soon as your check clears (and we have the votes)?" 

I'm making sure no one goes to jail for mere use or possession of marijuana, and their records should be expunged.

It’s time we right those historic wrongs.

— President Biden (@POTUS) July 17, 2024

That's Biden's latest pitch to the growing number of Democrats who want to see a change at the top of the ticket. Actually, according to POLITICO, it's not just the presidential candidate who could be in trouble with the Democratic base. 

 This polling memo (h/t JMart) from BlueLabs Analytics is circulating among party officials still keen to convince JOE BIDEN to step aside and prevent his party from suffering what many fear will be a historic loss to DONALD TRUMP.

The topline findings from interviews with over 15,000 voters in seven battleground states:

1. “Alternative Democratic candidates run ahead of President Biden by an average of three points across the battleground states. Nearly every tested Democrat performs better than the President. This includes Vice President [KAMALA] HARRIS who runs better than the President (but behind the average alternative).”
2. “Some of the gains are coming from winning undecideds and those previously supporting a third party. However, alternative candidates are also pulling votes from Donald Trump. All candidates continue to hold the Democratic base.”
3. “Voters are looking for a fresh face. Those more closely tied to the current administration perform relatively worse than other tested candidates.”

The data here opens a new front in the fight to replace Biden, strongly arguing that the best chance to defeat Trump is with a new Democratic nominee independent of the incumbent administration.

In other words: not Kamala Harris.

I'm surprised to see Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly on that list. The first time I saw him mentioned as a potential replacement was in the pages of the Arizona Republic this week, where columnist Greg Moore suggested that Kelly's gun control bona fides makes him the perfect choice to replace Biden. But with Arizona likely to be a swing state in November, Kelly could bolster Democrats' odds of winning the state, and Gov. Katie Hobbs would be free to replace Kelly with another Democrat in the Senate until a special election takes place. 

But back to Biden's pandering to pot smokers. While I have no objection to Biden's desire to keep marijuana users out of jail, it's worth noting that there's a huge and unspoken caveat to the president's campaign pledge: it doesn't apply to gun owners. 

As FPC's Rob Romano pointed out on X, even as Biden woos cannabis culture, the DOJ continues to argue that marijuana users lose their Second Amendment rights... even if they possess a valid medical marijuana card issued by their state government. 

Biden's DOJ argued in court last week that marijuana users don't have Second Amendment rights because they "endanger public safety in multiple ways" https://t.co/8iMQuSA4PM

— Rob Romano (@2Aupdates) July 17, 2024

According to the DOJ, "individuals who possess firearms while engaged in the regular use of illegal drugs endanger public safety in multiple ways. First, drug users may mishandle firearms—or use firearms to commit crimes—because of “drug-induced changes in physiological functions, cognitive ability, and mood.” 

Of course, the same could be said for a wide variety of prescription drugs, but so long as you've got a doctor's note you can possess a firearm while using Ambien, ketamine, or any drug that comes with a warning you shouldn't operate heavy equipment or machinery while under its effects. Does the DOJ believe everyone with a prescription for sleeping pills could also be deprived of their Second Amendment rights without violating the Constitution? 

The DOJ, in its filing, also contended that illegal drug users, including those with medical marijuana cards, "may 'commit crime in order to obtain money to buy drugs'. That's certainly true, but there are also plenty of criminals who aren't committing armed robberies or carjackings to fuel their next binge. 

More importantly, there are millions of Americans who use cannabis either medicinally or recreationally who aren't committing violent crimes. Biden may not think they should go to jail for lighting up, but his Attorney General believes they should be subject to a potential ten-year federal prison sentence if they do so as a gun owner. That's reason enough for gun owners who'd like access to medical marijuana (or medical marijuana patients who'd like to legally own a gun) give Biden's desperate pandering a puff, puff, pass.